Promoting canals and waterways as economic/environmental assets and cultural heritage

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Canals have always been tools of geopolitics as well as the economy in the Middle East. They played a major role in the submerged cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canope in Egypt, more than 2500 years ago. In the European Waterways Map and Directory (5th edition), I mention the Eurasian Canal that could serve exports from Kazakhstan and neighbouring countries, bypassing the new Volga-Don Canal that is closer to Russian interests. IWI also reported on the Turkish plan to build a canal bypassing the Bosphorus. But I was not prepared for this news, just read in Navigation, Ports et Intermodalité: Iran plans nothing less than a canal from the Caspian Sea through the middle of the country to the Persian Gulf!

This was a Russian dream in the late 19th century. According to the news agency Sputnik, close to the Kremlin, the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution have adopted it as a strategic investment, offering Russian trade a route to Asia bypassing the Suez Canal. The rapprochement between Iran and Russia, and the increasingly strained relations of these two countries with Turkey and other countries in the region, have made it politically appealing.

Technical and financial feasibility of the project will however be doubted by many. The shorter route, to the head of the Persian Gulf, is 1000 km long, but goes through mountains (see map from Wikipedia Commons). The canal’s summit level could not be lower than 1000m. The alternative route to the Gulf of Oman is much gentler terrain but longer (1500 km) and crosses regions with very limited water resources. The canal’s water supply is one of the major problems to be overcome, as well as funding this enormous infrastructure investment, estimated at $150 billion.

The project was approved by former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Iranian parliament Alaeddin Boroujerdi has suggested it could be completed by 2020.

We are unequivocally supporting the efforts by the association Unser Finowkanal to secure the future of this important heritage waterway, bypassed by the modern Havel-Oder Waterway.

The Federal Government has declared its intention to close the canal for navigation, convert the locks into weirs and maintain the channel exclusively for drainage.

The only way to avoid this scenario is to secure funding for the considerable investment of €75 million, to cover all costs, particularly to restore the locks. To date, all the locks have been operated each season, using unemployed from the local job centre (and two voluntary lock-keepers), but some repairs have become too urgent, and there is at present no authority nor any funding in place to implement them.

A boat rally celebrates the opening of the Finow Canal for the 2015 season. The association Unser Finowkanal continues its campaign for maintenance and regular operation of the canal, which the Federal waterway authority wishes to hand over to the region.

If one of the 12 historic locks fails, the canal will no longer be available as a through route, and the direct and indirect economic benefits of waterway tourism will be lost to the Eberswalde/Niederfinow region.

The municipalities of the Finowkanal region are under pressure to make a decision by January 2016, for or against their share in the necessary investment, and the issue is being firecely debated. On December 17, the Eberswalde council – with the biggest share in the project – will cast its vote. Only if all the local councils vote in favour of the canal investment will it become feasible to set up a public body to take over operation of the canal.

Investors need to be certain that the future of the canal is guaranteed, Under Federal government ownership, there are no opportunities for commercial activities at the locks or along the banks, volunteer lock-keepers are refused, and the risk of failure of the locks continues to hamper any development.

But regional decision-makers are procrastinating, and most of the officials in the Finow Canal regional working group are keeping a low profile, for fear of being held responsible for the failure to take over the canal.

Some councils are leaning towards rejection of the takeover because of the lack of evidence of the benefits that tourism could bring to the region, justifying their entrenched resistance to change.

Unser Finowkanal president Hartmut Ginnow-Merkert has made a plea for support: if you feel it is important to maintain continuous navigability of the Finow canal, comment here!

Waterway managers from throughout Europe travelled across the English Channel a few weeks ago for a special visit to see cutting edge technology in action on the UK’s canals.
The guests joined the Canal & River Trust – the charity that takes care of 3200 km of waterways across England and Wales – for two days.

The visit included a trip to see the project that will allow remote operation of a bridge on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal.

Another visit was made to the Grand Union Canal at Hatton to see the new waterway control centre, which houses technology to help manage the Trust’s fleet of workboats and vehicles, issue work notices and schedules to staff and monitor incidents and emergencies.

CRT’s EU Numericanal partners see how the new control centre at Hatton facilitates deployment and repairs over a hundreds of kilometres of canals

Delegates included waterway managers, technicians and experts from the Netherlands, France and Belgium. They were brought together through the EU-funded Numericanal project, which looks at best practice across Europe of using technology to better run the waterways. Representatives from Scottish Canals and the pan-European boating group The Barge Association (DBA) were also present.

Steve Higham, European funding manager at the Canal & River Trust, said: ‘We were really pleased to welcome experts from all across Europe to see the work that we’ve done, and it’s encouraging to be leading the way when it comes to canal technology. Ultimately this is all about how we can work together across Europe to find the best ways of managing the waterways, and it’s great to have so many partners bringing a huge range of experience to the table.’

‘Numericanal’ is a €3.3 million project funded by Interreg NWE, that aims to use technology to enable more efficient management of inland waterways.

Inland waterways are now frequently being discussed as an issue under the overall theme of water and water resources. This is confirmed at the upcoming 7th World Water Forum, to take place in Daegu, Korea, April 12-17, 2015.

On April 16, 2015 a PIANC Side Event is scheduled on ‘Water Infrastructure for Sustainable Transport and Economic Development’. The flyer containing the programme of this event has a striking aerial view of a big push-tow negotiating tight bends on the Ohio River.

Flyer with the programme for the WWF side event on using rivers for transport (click to read)

The side event has been organised by the US Section of PIANC, who argue – as IWI has done persistently over the past 20 years – in favour of inland water transport as a legitimate and environmentally sustainable use of rivers. The web site puts the case in convincing terms:

Using waterways to transport goods and people contributes directly to both economic development and sustainability. The following text Improvements in rivers to support year-round navigation have opened up regions, stimulated economic development, and connected people and their goods with the markets of the world, thus contributing to the Millennium goal of reducing poverty . Inland waterborne transports inherent efficiency also translates to lower energy use and lower emissions for each ton transported, as compared to other modes, thus advancing environmental sustainability. Moving more goods on water also can reduce congestion on alternate modes. This session will show how inland waterborne transport is advanced and improved by the international technical collaboration led by PIANC, the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.
Globalization is driving increased trade and the need to use rivers to connect the hinterland, and even land-locked countries, to seaports. The stakeholders in river navigation around the world face similar problems, including safety, accident prevention, and protection of the environment. More pooling of knowledge and experience, and the creation of a global framework for analysis and thought, as can be done at the World Water Forum, would make it possible to further promote and advance the environmentally-friendly dimension of this very important water use, water for transport.

Sonia Rolt on the narrowboat Nutfield in the opening parade of boats at the 2006 Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally

Sonia Rolt – known to many on the canals simply and affectionately as ‘Sonia’ – died peacefully in hospital on 22 October, after a short illness at the age of 95. Her death has meant the passing of the last of the Idle Women who was still actively involved with the canals. In her 96th year, Sonia attended the Hay Literary Festival in May, where the 70th anniversary of her late husband Tom Rolt’s great work, Narrow Boat was celebrated in style. The Chairman of the CRT Tony Hales was amongst the many in attendance. Hales then made a videoed interview, which is a fitting testament to her. Then as late as August, Sonia gave an interview to Canal Boat magazine for its back page ‘Twenty Questions’ which appeared in its November issue. For those who knew her, her energy and passion for life never ceased to amaze, and remained with her almost to her end.

Her first husband, the boatman George Smith, with whom she was married from 1945 until 1951 also died recently, in 2012, aged 97. His death ironically also removed another link to the canal past. Born in 1915, he was then probably the last boatman with active memories of post-WWI horse-boating with his father on the BCN, and the General Strike of 1926. He was also one of the few boatmen who still had memories of working the boats as an adult in WWII. Like Sonia, his mind remained clear, almost to his end, and even in his 96th year he attended the opening of the Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally, insisting on joining the opening parade on President and then telling the captain how to steer the boat!

Sonia is principally remembered for her two years or so working as an Idle Woman – the female middle class volunteers who worked as boatmen during WWII. In her case it was with two fellow acting friends – with whom she lived in a flat in Knightsbridge and all of them then working in the converted Hoover factory making parts for aircraft. They saw an advertisement for female volunteers to work as canal boat-women, and saw it as a means of escape. As they had passed the brief training period, which the boatmen had taken a lifetime to learn, they were put in charge of a pair of GUCCC boats, the Moon and the Phobos – which were to become at once their home and workplace for the next two years. Sonia commented, ‘I found the work exhausting but liberating. Perhaps because I was an orphan with a nomadic upbringing, I thought the boatmen had something I hungered after. I soon made friends with the boaters and the people along the bank.’

One of the reasons Sonia & Co did survive was the great help and kindness they received from the working boatmen, and in particular George Smith and his brothers. In her hand-written message read for her at George’s funeral, she said, ‘He always welcomed the new and gained enjoyment and amusement from it. The trainee boat women of the time could vouch for his kindness and helpfulness.’

However Sonia was reticent in speaking more than generally about those days, and never specifically about how she met and later married George Smith on 1st September, 1945, and for six years became a full time boatwoman, nor about how things fell apart. Despite her considerable literary skills, she never wrote about those days.

Sonia is also remembered for involvement with and later her marriage to the author Tom Rolt. Just when they met is questionable. Tom had co-founded the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) and was keen amongst other things to help save canal carrying and improving the lot of the working boatmen – something Sonia was already committed to, having campaigned for this in the 1945 July ‘khaki’ General Election.

Sonia in about June 1945 drawing political slogans on the cabin of her GUCCC motor Phobos. It was her political activism that attracted her to the newly founded IWA as being able to give articulate representation for saving canal carrying and improving the lot of the working boatmen. It was through her time on the IWA committee that her relationship developed with the canal author and co-IWA founder Tom Rolt.

He invited her to join the IWA committee which met in the winter months at co-founder Robert Aickman’s flat in Gower Street, London, where a deep friendship developed, a world away from her life on the canals with the working boatmen.

In 1951 Sonia left George and the canals for her new life with Tom. Their combined energy was extraordinary, and the first major project was saving the Talyllyn Railway, when they lived in a caravan for the first re-opened season, with Tom driving the trains and Sonia manning the ticket office. And there were many other incredible achievements. Though Tom had almost left the English canals, and there is only one record of a later visit which was to the Pontycysyllte Aqueduct, he did continue to write extensively about them, including his Landscape with Canals, published in 1977, which covered his canals years up to 1951, but in which Sonia surprisingly did not receive a single mention. He also wrote books on several other subjects, writing 41 books in all. He lived almost solely off his writings, in which he had the full and attentive support of Sonia.

Tom died in 1974, after he and Sonia had been together for a mere 23 years, and she was only 53. She dedicated her remaining forty years of life working for the causes they had been involved in together.

A change was to happen to Sonia’s life in 1993, when David Stevenson, who was Chairman on the IWA from 1989 to 1994 (the president of IWI from 1997 to 2000) persuaded the Council of the IWA to reinstate as honorary members a number of former members who had been thrown out by the at times Putinesque co-founder Robert Aickman. One was Sonia, and she responded with conciliatory glee, and she was soon made a Vice-President, and was very much in demand.

Sonia was to reward his foresight and friendship when in the Spring of 2011, she invited him to join her and her two sons when she went to Windsor Castle to receive her OBE from the Queen – ‘for services to industrial archaeology and heritage’. Sonia was by then too frail to walk any distance, and attended the investiture in a wheelchair. She afterwards quipped about her condition: ‘I blame it on my seven years on the boats. I was never brought up to do that.’

In December 2012, she also asked David Stevenson to represent her at George’s funeral, and read a neatly hand-written message from her: ‘I am sad to think George Smith has gone […] He was an amazing man, handsome, strong and well set up […] The trainee boat women of the time could vouch for his kindness and helpfulness. I am sure these traits sustained him and persisted throughout his very long life. It will make him long remembered and spoken of. God Bless him!’

Sonia made many friends on the canals, not only in Europe, but also North America and Australia. Amongst her tributes was one from her good friend Tom Grasso, President of the Canal Society of New York State: ‘She was the First Lady of the English canals’.

Czech president Milos Zeman will be at the European Parliament building in Strasbourg on 26 February 2014, to lobby for inclusion of the Danube-Oder-Elbe water corridors in Europe’s ‘core corridor network’ for transport infrastructure investments.

Ostrava-based MEP Vojtech Mynar has invited interested parties to a round table with experts on the Danube-Oder-Elbe Water Corridor in the ‘Swan Bar’ gallery of the European Parliament building at 16:00. The meeting is aimed mainly at MEPs from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. A parallel exhibition on the 100-year-old project will be on display at the venue throughout the week.

The Czech organisers, who have already established close collaboration with Poland for the Oder branch, observe that the newly adopted priorities of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) do not include the international project for the Danube-Oder-Elbe Waterways (called ‘water corridors’ to highlight the non-navigation functions of water management), despite the significant contribution these waterways could make to meeting the EU’s objectives in reduction of road transport, emissions and job creation.

To take this project into consideration, the European Commission has already advised the Czech Government that it needs to have a relevant feasibility study and statements of the Member States concerned. The aim of this event is to discuss preparation of the project with politicians and experts, and to conclude with a common statement.

NOTE to editors: IWI has already supported the D-O-E water corridor project by writing to the then President Jan Fischer on 14/07/10, as well as to key ministers, before a critical vote in the parliament. If the motion had been carried, the land reserved for these waterways could have been sold off, making it virtually impossible to build the links at any future date.

Invitation to opening of the exhibition organised by Czech MEP Vojtech Mynar in the EP building in Strasbourg

N.B. Entry to the European Parliament building in Strasbourg for this event is restricted to invitees.

A sense of urgency permeates the air in Lombardy as well as in neighbouring Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and Veneto regions, regarding Italy’s network of navigable canals and rivers. What reality will be revealed to the world of inland waterway specialists and advocates, meeting in Milan on September 1st for the 27th World Canals Conference? It is a reality of water conveyors and waterways, in places going their separate ways, but often combined within the same bed. Waterway cross-roads, intakes, siphons, spillways, aqueducts are the nodes of an intricate network spun across the Lombardy plain, and nothing is simple. Even Italy’s second biggest Alpine lake, Lago Maggiore, is used as a reservoir and drawn down by as much as 1.50m to secure irrigation water supplies during a dry summer.

The ambitious project to restore navigation between Lago Maggiore (Locarno) and the river Po is regularly covered by the regional and national Press. This article focuses on work to start soon on a new lock at Porto della Torre, on the Piedmont bank of the Ticino

It is nearly 20 years since IWI’s founders attended a conference in Milan on the ‘civilisation of water and waterways’ and the heritage left by Leonardo da Vinci and other great Italian engineers. At that time a grouping of Rotary clubs in the Adda valley was actively promoting restoration of the locks on the Adda as well as the Naviglio di Paderno (followed by the Martesana towards Milan). The campaign sadly lost momentum after the president Mario Roveda died of a heart attack in 1997, but IWI, represented in Italy by industrial archeology expert Edo Bricchetti, has constantly been supporting the regional initiatives in favour of a navigable system serving ‘slow’ tourism and appreciation of the extraordinary heritage and environment of the canal corridors.

Navigli Lombardi was founded to drive these efforts, but does not manage the canals themselves; that is the prerogative of the Consorzio Villoresi, which has the concession from the Region to manage the water resource and supply the many needs of agriculture, industry and the population. This means that the ‘water conveyor’ function has priority here, in the same way as it has priority on another famous southern European canal, the Canal de Castilla in Spain.

Despite this priority, politicians in Milan and across the plain, including the neighbouring regions, are massively in favour of restoring and adapting the 1000-year legacy of canals and controlled rivers, to make navigation once again a regular form of mobility in both urban and rural areas.

This spillway in Turbigo is only one part of a complex junction between the ‘industrial canal’ and the Naviglio Grande

Achieving this goal means compromises and concessions. As climate change increases the pressure on water resources, it is likely to become increasingly difficult to obtain management of water channels that is compatible with navigability, even by professional helmsmen. Another difficulty faced by all players in Lombardy is a certain degree of confusion in the minds of Milanese citizens, possibly even some planners and architects, between water conveyors and waterways. This is only the briefest of introductions to a fascinating story that will be told here in the coming days and weeks… background notes for the discussions during the World Canals Conference and the pre- and post-conference tours. (to be continued)David Edwards-May

Glenn Millar, economic development manager at the Canal and River Trust

Inland Waterways International as a body and its members as individuals were saddened to hear that Glenn Millar, friend and supporter of inland waterways, passed away in September 2013 after a long illness. Glenn was the economic development manager at the Canal and River Trust (formerly British Waterways), and enthusiastic leader of European cooperation projects on inland waterways. He kept working until 2012 and the successful conclusion of two recent EU-funded waterway projects ‘Waterways Forward’ (Interreg IVC) and ‘Waterways for Growth’ (Interreg IVB, in the North Sea Region).

Glenn, from Northern Ireland, was an ambassador for the waterways and was made Canelero de Honor by Spain in 2006, the same year he was chosen to present a model narrow boat to Mary McAleese, President of Ireland. His networks were prodigious and relationships lasted long beyond the project or committee where they were originally formed. People valued Glenn’s insight but also valued his company and friendship

The portrait reproduced here, by courtesy of the website BoatingBusiness.com, was named ‘Europe Comes Together’; that is a fitting tribute to Glenn’s vision and achievements.

A tribute has also been printed in the new (4th) edition of the European Waterways Map and Directory, published by Euromapping, which is dedicated to his memory.

The subject is not totally taboo, but in 40 years of activity on the inland waterways, a ‘world of its own’, I have found that people prefer to avoid it. ‘The less said the better’, seems to be the motto ! Confronted with two conflicting ‘politically correct’ opinions, Euromapping decided to undertake a detailed survey, starting on March 1st 2013, to get a precise overview.
It is hardly a caricature to say that ‘canal folk’ justify their direct discharge into the canal by arguing that the environment easily absorbs the effluent load. On the other side, landlubbers are horrified by the idea that tourists are free to ‘do it’ in the canal and shocked by the fact that this ‘public convenience’ is used free of charge.
Historically involved in development of the waterways in SW France, Euromapping is ideally placed to conduct this investigation and assemble reliable data on the Canal des Deux Mers, despite the reluctance of players to address the subject.
All are aware of what is required by EU and French law. The manufacturers know better than anyone, since they fit their boats with the necessary holding tanks, but marine toilets are still the norm on many boats.
The questions are straightforward :
– How are boats equipped for sewerage ?
– Do trip boats, hotel boats, etc. have separate holding tanks for grey water and black water ?
– What is the storage volume ?
– Are pumps integrated on board ?
– What is the interval between pump-outs ? Where are they done ? and by what methods ?
These are followed by qualitative questions designed to note the sensitivities of users and their willingness to pay sanitation services, for those who today have no alternative but to discharge into the canal.
Canals as ecosystems : a session at the World Canals Conference – to be held in Toulouse on 16-19 September – is devoted to this murky subject. It was time for the consulting firm Euromapping to clarify the stakes, with its partners.

The saga of the Canadian Heritage canals managed by Parks Canada grinds on. In the early New Year Parks Canada introduced a new fee schedule for using the locks on its three major historic canals; the Rideau, The Trent Severn Waterway and the Quebec Canals.

Not only was Parks Canada proposing a whole new way of charging for the service offered, but also increasing these fees substantially. So for a boater, the cost to use the locks and moor increased well beyond any form of a reasonable increase. This was fuelled by the earlier changes to the navigation season service offer (see earlier posts). That exercise left many boaters, business people, communities, tour and rental boat companies and users very angry. The Government did keep its promise not to reduce the length of the season (see overly optimistic announcement posted hereOctober 23, 2012) however, the devil was in the details, and as it turned out they reduced very substantially the hours of service within the season, the amount or degree of service in the shoulder seasons and reduced operating staff substantially.

So, then in the New Year out came a new fee schedule and format, which caused a firestorm of reaction along the canal corridors. It was so intense that within a couple of days Parks Canada started to make changes most likely in response to the number and intensity of comments they were hearing from the public. Since that time and well before the final date for comments, they have made further changes to their proposals in trying to deal with the shortcomings of the original plan. However, even with these changes the fee rate is increasing substantially. Most users were willing to see rates increase, but something within reason and based on some type of a business case which has not been forthcoming after many requests.

What is sad is the impact it has had on Parks Canada’s credibility as an organization that knew how to operate canals and understood their importance from a cultural, natural or economic perspective. However, the accumulative impact of the changes for lockage fees plus the reduction of service level will without a doubt diminish the use and opportunities which in turn puts more pressure on the increased revenues versus costs ratio that the government seems to be demanding of Parks Canada. It misses the point and doesn’t take into account that these heritage waterways are economic drivers for their communities and they contribute substantially to the GDP of the country. As an example; the Parks Canada Economic Impact Study of the Rideau Canal 2010/2011 determined that the $10.5 million spent on the Rideau, generated $44.4 million to the GDP and supported 641 full time equivalent jobs, and this was only visits to lock stations. It didn’t include the people who visit resorts, restaurants, stores, marinas, museums, etc. that are prevalent up and down the corridor.

So, there are still many unanswered questions. What will the final fee schedule be for the coming navigation season? What will the fall out be on visitation and use of the canal at a time when the government is pushing for economic initiatives to keep the economy healthy? What will the cultural and natural heritage impacts be for these canals after major changes in how they are organized when the number of specialists in these fields has been greatly reduced and are not necessarily on site? Will the water management function have the capability, knowledge and experience to meet the demand and intricacies of the operation and not seriously jeopardize public safety and is it sustainable? Will all of these changes work over the long haul or will public safety, the heritage values and canal use be in jeopardy? Sadly only time will tell and by then it may be too late!!